Customer Reviews

Grizzly Heart

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My wife and I read this book aloud to each other. It was almost impossible to put down once we started. It represents something for every memeber of the family I believe, but especially anyone intersted in biolgical research, the out of doors, and bears, yet the book is written as an adventure story.

Grizzly Heart is the best book written on grizzly bears. The book chronicles Charlie Russell's quest to prove that human-bear peaceful coexistence is possible. Russell moves to remote Siberia to live with bears and ends up adopting orphaned cubs and raising them in the wild. Russell is an amazing, gifted writer and the story is compelling and exciting. Russell's work with animals is groundbreaking and his writing shares with the world that grizzly bears are not the demonized monsters they have been turned into through popular culture. Russell is one of few people involved with grizzly bears who understands how power and culture work to keep dominant power structures (such as the hunting establishment) in place. His story is not only a page turner but will open your eyes to how animals can be so completely misunderstood. If you like nature narratives or are interested in learning about bears this book is a must read. My husband has read it three times!

This book by Charlie Russell is phenomenal. It was both educational, entertaining and heart wrenching. "Grizzly Heart" was instrumental in my interest and researching/following the American Black Bear, which includes the viewing via live cam of the birth of a black bear cub in her den and following the path of the mother (Lily) and cub (Hope), and Lily's next two cubs born one year after Hope. (This is available on the internet at North American Bear Center in Ely, MN).

Charlie Russell put his heart and soul into "Grizzly Heart". If you love animals, specifically bears, you will not be able to put this book down. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.